Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas”
Is this too high of a ranking? Too low? King fans will want to dismiss me completely because this song isn’t closer to the top of the countdown. And I have friends who are into music that think Elvis is waaaaay overrated, and will call this pandering. Me? It’s right where it should be; one of the best xmas tunes done by a singular voice in rock and roll history.
Too judge Elvis on anything is to forsake the mythology we have heard about him over the past 30+ years, and instead just listen to him sing. His Sun recording sessions built rock music’s road to becoming a cultural mainstream artform. He went on to record a lot of crap as well as a lot of underappreciated music that was skewed unfavorably by his earlier, groundbreaking output. One of the things I love about this entry is the video is from the ’68 Comeback Special, and we hear the King playing guitar and taking the song pretty seriously. When he was serious, there were few better. Iconic song, and should be on any playlist at Christmas. Plus, one more reason to prove Adam Lambert is a pretender: he looks like a mutated Elvis from 1963. Now that’s pandering.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ODrPL9-kEs]
Christmas Song Santacular Countdown
Santacular Christmas Countdown – #9 – The Kinks
“Father Christmas” – The Kinks
You know, we had Springsteen a few spots back, and the beginning of “Father Christmas” sounds like it could be another Bruce production. Then it breaks into the classic Kinks sound. Here’s a band that never quite could keep up with the Stones or the Who. In many ways, they were way more presonal in their writing and built a sound that was unmistakable when it came on the radio. “Father Christmas” is a song that I almost never hear unless I’m the one playing it, but have found it on a number of CD compilations. Intelligently crunching rock, with Ray Davies hitting it out of the rock park during his heydey.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjaPXihbORk]
Santacular Christmas Countdown – #10 – Buck Owens
Buck Owens – “Santa Looked a Lot like Daddy”
That’s right people: Buck Freakin’ Owens. The dude was more than just Hee Haw. Ever hear of the Bakersfield sound? Country rock before there was country rock. You gotta love this song. Really. There are hundreds of covers of the tune, but the good ones rarely stray from the signature sound Buck laid down back in 1965. And here is the song at #10. Maybe the surprise of the countdown? Think again. Respect the Buck.
Wikipedia: “The Bakersfield Sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly-produced, string orchestra-laden Nashville Sound of the late 1950s. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos and Merle Haggard and the Strangers are the most successful artists of the original Bakersfield sound era”.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw1pJwqGA8g]
Santacular Christmas Countdown – #11 – Bruce Springsteen
“Merry Christmas Baby” – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Overshadowed during the holiday season by his cover of “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”, Bruce and the E Street Band grab a hold of the song by supplying a nod to their Jersey shore R&B roots. What makes this work is Bruce infusing the song with some of the same stop and starts, and musical breakdowns that work so well in songs like “Spirit in the Night” and “Out in the Street”. It’s really a snapshot of how they would sound in the early 80’s – though a little less gloss than the “Born in the USA” album had – that’s because it was recorded in late 1980 during “The River” tour. Great Roy Bittan piano. I love this version of the song. Not the greatest Christmas song ever. But if you want one of the most inspired live pieces of Santa Rock, turn this one up.
The song has been covered by Otis Redding, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Bonnie Riatt, Charles Brown and Hanson. The recorded version performed by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band was recorded live at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on December 28, 1980, and included on the Christmas album A Very Special Christmas, released in 1987.
Video from Late Night with Conan O’Brien from December , 2002.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kee7ZjvEcs]
Santacular Christmas Countdown – #12 – John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp – “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” – In 1987, Mellencamp was at the height of his musical trajectory. His “Lonesome Jubilee” album synthesized rock, country, folk and old-timey instruments into a peculiar (though accessible) piece of art. The shows that supported the record put on display one of the best bands I have ever seen live, and I’ve seen hundreds, both great and crappy. I saw John first in ’85 at Detroit’s Cobo Hall during the “Scarecrow” tour and it was my first real taste of what kind of power a band that behaved like that could have; it was the combination of 60’s Mitch Ryder-like rock and roll, Kinks-via-America blue collar lyrical poetry and really loud g
uitars and drums. Two years later, in ’87, that same band had become even more nuanced without losing its power or its garage rock backbone, while adding a fiddle and accordian to the mix. So when I found myself deep in the lawn at Pine Knob Music Theater (again, Detroit) for the second leg of that tour, the intensity, James Brown-ish polish and the momentum of a bunch of radio singles made it one of the best five shows I have seen in my life. The “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” video was recorded during that tour, before one of the shows. It captures that unique-for-the-times Mellencamp sound – rustic, rootsy rock and roll. I would call it brilliant. It is a Mellencamp era that I miss to this day.
He’s had a helluva career, still does what he wants – with integrity – and has moved into a more traditional rock sound for his live shows, though the fiddle still plays an important part in defining the Mellencamp concert sound. Rewind to a era captured on video, of an Indiana punk grown up just enough to build himself one of the great, underrated live bands of the rock era, successfully reinventing a holiday classic.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsat4e8jgHA]
Santacular Christmas Countdown – #13 – The Tractors
The Tractors – “The Santa Claus Boogie” – Oklahoma rock and roll boogie from the Tractors, a bunch of guys whose stew of New Orleans piano and Tulsa shuffle created some unique music in the 1990’s. I love the way the vocals of leader Steve Ripley sound (miked close and in your ear), and the whole group’s rough and ready harmonies. Too unique for country radio today, they didn’t even really fit in anywhere in their brief run, and are a one-hit wonder. Iconoclastic yet familiar with their mix of musical influences.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUrWFBfz3SM]